“COME SWING WITH ME”/”SINATRA SWINGS”
By Mahnuel Muñoz
On August 14, 1961, the swing battle broke out; Two Frank Sinatra LPs reach the North American charts together: “Sinatra Swings”, published by Reprise, the label founded by the singer, and “Come Swing With Me”, recorded for Capitol Records, the scene of the most brilliant hits of La Voice.
In 1960, relations between Sinatra and Capitol Records were quite deteriorated, since the singer felt that the record company was restricting his creative freedom; For this reason he decided to create Reprise, his own record label, in which he would record without obstacles of time, style, material and personnel. Since Sinatra had a contract with Capitol until 1962, for two years there was a permanent struggle between the releases of both labels, saturating the market, draining the pockets of Frank’s fans and hurting each other’s chart results.
FRANK SINATRA DISCOGRAPHY (1961): “COME SWING WITH ME / SINATRA SWINGS”
Both albums had been published at the same time and both had a similar character, with arrangements by Billy May (and Heinie Beau on some tracks in “Come Swing With Me “) and a repertoire of irresistible, bright and danceable songs.
Reprise’s album, “Sinatra Swings”, was originally called “Swing Along With Me”, but had to be renamed due to a complaint from Capitol Records due to the similarity with the title of the other album participating in this contest, “Come Swing With Me.”
“Come Swing With Me”(Capitol) is a superb showcase of the American Songbook: “Sentimental Journey”, “Almost Like Being In Love”, “On The Sunny Side Of The Street”, “That Old Black Magic”, “Lover” …and provides a new stereo mix that divided his fans; there is an overemphasis on the punctuation of some brass that throws the sound over Frank’s Voice. Some however find this aspect a key and distinctive feature of the work.
“Sinatra Swings” (Reprise) offers a more original and eclectic repertoire (“Granada” by Agustín Lara has never and will never sound cooler!) and an equally exciting sound, but mixed more subtly and lightly, making it the winner of the contest for many fans.
In terms of numbers, the Capitol album achieved a better result: eighth place, a stay of 39 weeks on the charts and half a million copies sold; For its part, the Reprise LP rose to number 6, but remained on the charts for only 22 weeks and shipped around 150,000 copies.
FRANK SINATRA DISCOGRAPHY
“Come Swing With Me ” Tracklist
- “Day by Day”
Axel Stordahl, Paul Weston, Sammy Cahn 2:39 - “Sentimental Journey”
Les Brown/Ben Homer/Bud Green 3:26 - “Almost Like Being in Love”
Frederick Loewe/Alan Jay Lerner 2:02 - “Five Minutes More”
Cahn/Jule Styne
May 2:36 - “American Beauty Rose”
Mack David/Redd Evans/Arthur Altman 2:22 - “Yes Indeed!” Sy Oliver 2:35
- “On the Sunny Side of the Street”
Jimmy McHugh/Dorothy Fields 2:42 - “Don’t Take Your Love from Me” Henry Nemo 1:59
- “That Old Black Magic”
Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer 4:05 - “Lover”
Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart 1:53 - “Paper Doll” Johnny S. Black 2:08
- “I’ve Heard That Song Before”
Cahn/Styne 2:33
“Sinatra Swings” Tracklist
- “Falling in Love with Love”
Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart 1:49 - “The Curse of an Aching Heart”
Henry Fink/Al Piantadosi
2:06 - “Don’t Cry, Joe (Let Her Go, Let Her Go, Let Her Go)” Joe Marsala 3:05
- “Please Don’t Talk About Me When I’m Gone”
Sidney Clare/Sam H. Stept
2:56 - “Love Walked In”
George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin
2:19 - “Granada”
Dorothy Dodd/Agustín Lara
3:38 - “I Never Knew”
Ted Fiorito/Gus Kahn
2:14 - “Don’t Be That Way”
Benny Goodman/Mitchell Parish/Edgar Sampson
2:41 - “Moonlight on the Ganges”
Sherman Myers/Chester Wallace
3:18 - “It’s a Wonderful World”
Harold Adamson/Jan Savitt/Johnny Watson
2:17 - “Have You Met Miss Jones?”
Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart
2:30 - “You’re Nobody till Somebody Loves You”
James Cavanaugh/Russ Morgan/Larry Stock
4:09
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